Federal Charges Filed Against Former Foundation Treasurer

LAMORINDA, CA — The former treasurer of the Moraga Community Foundation has been charged with wire fraud and filing a false tax return, after allegedly withdrawing more than $250,000 from the foundation’s bank accounts for his own use.

Francis Robert Fritzky faces a maximum sentence of twenty years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for wire fraud, and three years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for filing a false tax return.

The charges were announced last week by United States Attorney David L. Anderson and IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Kareem Carter.

According to an information filed with the court, Fritzky made unauthorized withdrawals of more than $250,000 from the Foundation’s bank accounts to himself, to a company in which he held majority ownership interest, and to a foundation he founded and controlled.

He also allegedly provided false financial reports to the Foundation’s board of directors. For example, Fritzky represented that the ending balance for one of the Foundation’s funds in December 2018 was more than $108,000 and that the ending balance of the other fund was more than $37,000 when the combined balances for both funds was allegedly less than $2,000.

Court documents accuse Fritzky of filing false tax returns on behalf of the foundation, showing the fake numbers.

The case was investigated by the Moraga Police Department and the IRS.

Frtizky’s first court appearance in this matter has not been scheduled.